With Feeding America, We Can All Thrive This Holiday Season

This holiday season, Thrive Market members can choose to donate a portion of the savings from their orders to Feeding America; we’re  committed to raising $200,000 for this incredible organization before the end of the year. Feeding America provides more than 3.7 billion meals to families every year. Here Michelle Marshall, MS, RD, the Director of Community Health and Nutrition at Feeding America, shares more about the organization and how you can help.

Mary resisted looking for help for as long as she could. Her husband, formerly the top salesman at a car dealership, was in remission after battling cancer for the second time.

With three young children at home, it was hard for the couple to stay afloat on Mary’s take-home income from her small catering business. This was particularly troubling for at a time when Mary knew just how important good nutrition was for her growing kids and recovering husband. Mary eventually had to accept that she couldn’t do it all on her own.

For families like Mary’s, the local mobile food pantry is the place they can turn to for help. Through the food pantry, Mary and her family get access to the fresh fruits and vegetables that are so vital to their health.

Many families who turn to the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks do their best to provide for themselves, but might not be able to make their paychecks stretch to the end of the month. That’s when some are forced to make difficult, often less healthy tradeoffs to get by. This is where health and hunger collide. Feeding America is the leading domestic hunger-relief organization. We’ve made it a priority to be a resource for our clients to not only provide nutritious foods, but also to help bridge the gap and support individuals as they work to stabilize their lives.

Because of the often higher cost and lack of access to nutrient-rich foods, millions of Americans find it difficult to regularly provide healthful food for their families. In fact, Feeding America’s client population faces significant health issues.

Mary’s family experienced a difficult time. But thanks to her local food pantry, Mary has a few less difficult choices to make. She can continue to provide balanced meals for her children—who have never missed a day of school since kindergarten—and her husband.

With the commitment of partners like Thrive Market who share our passion to giving every American access to nutritious foods, we’re able to help work towards ensuring that the healthy choice is the easy choice for the millions of families served by the Feeding America network. 

Michelle Marshall, MS, RD is a Registered Dietitian and the Director of Community Health and Nutrition at Feeding America. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics and the American Public Health Association and is published in the Academy’s scientific journal. Ms. Marshall was selected as the recipient of the Hunger & Environmental Nutrition award of excellence and served as the Chair of the Academy’s House of Delegates Food and Nutrition Security Task Force.